Pakistan to help in California shooting probe

IANS | Islamabad
|
December 07, 2015

This house, belonging to Gulzar Ahmed Malik, father of California's female shooter Tashfeen Malik, is where Malik lived when she was studying in Multan | AP

Pak says it will share information as per international obligation

The loss of precious lives in the tragic incident is irreversible and unfortunate. We hope that the investigations would lead the US authorities to bring the perpetrators and abettors of this act to justice — Pakistan foreign ministry

Pakistan will share information with the US about the California shooting in line with the international obligations, the country's interior minister said on Sunday.

US investigators have identified Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani woman and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, of opening firing at a gathering in San Bernardino, on Wednesday, killing 14 people.

Tashfeen Malik belonged to Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab province, according to local media. Her identity card has also been published in some local newspapers. AP has said in the final few years of Tashfeen Malik's life, the people around the young woman saw her dress ever more conservatively and urge people ardently to live a devout life.

Section of the media has reported that the US authorities have handed over some information to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about the shooters' links in Pakistan.

However, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan denied the reports, but said Pakistan will share information with the US administration.

"We will help in the investigation," Nisar said at a news conference in Islamabad.

He said that no US team has met the prime minister in connection with the shooting and rejected as false reports in the Western media.

He said the US has not taken up the issue with Pakistan so far, adding that some vested interest outside Pakistan wants to defame the country.

On Sunday, the foreign ministry condemned what it called an abhorrent and tragic incident in San Bernardino, California, in the strongest possible terms.

"The loss of precious lives in the tragic incident is irreversible and unfortunate. We hope that the investigations would lead the US authorities to bring the perpetrators and abettors of this act to justice," a foreign ministry statement said.

"The people of Pakistan, being worst victims of terrorism over the years, share the grief of the people of the United States and stand by them in their pain and suffering."

The couple shot dead 14 people at a Southern California social services centre and injured several.